


The Trap

by Perelynn



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Entrapta Being Entrapta (She-Ra), F/M, Gen, Scheming Prime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perelynn/pseuds/Perelynn
Summary: Horde Prime regarded her with curiosity. He remembered the girl from his defective brother's memories. The little scientist. Without her help, his lost clone would likely never have sent the distress signal. A talented girl, then. Unique in terms of the expertise she possessed. Not with technology - Prime had his own engineers - but with magic. The only field that has eluded him.She may prove useful. He decided to keep her.
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 106





	1. Horde Prime

"I came for Hordak," the Princess declared.

Horde Prime regarded her with curiosity. He remembered the girl from his defective brother's memories. The little scientist. Without her help, his lost clone would likely never have sent the distress signal. A talented girl, then. And unique in terms of the expertise she possessed. Not with technology - Prime had his own engineers - but with magic. The only field that has eluded him.

She may prove useful. He decided to keep her.

"Apologies”, he said, with carefully measured silkiness in his voice. “My little brother here has been reconditioned. His memory was erased. That's a standard procedure. I didn't know someone would be looking for him in his... earlier capacity."

"Bring him back!” she said. “He is my friend."

"I don't think the effect can be reversed, Your Highness.” This time, Prime added some quiet regret. “The procedure is meant to be permanent."

"Give him to me, then”, the Princess demanded. “I'll fix him."

What an exquisite pleasure, to steer a lesser being towards certain decisions by simply telling the truth, and the truth only. 

"It would be my pleasure,” he murmured, his voice all purring politeness. “Come here, little brother. Bow to the Princess. You belong to her now.”

“Hordak!” the girl exclaimed, grabbing the clone’s hand with her hair. “It’s me! Do you remember me?”

The clone just stood before her, staring. His hand remained limp in her grasp. 

“Your Highness,” Prime called sweetly, “may I offer one of my labs and libraries for your undertaking? As a humble gesture of my goodwill."

The word "library" brought sparks to her eyes. Is this what gets her excited? Curious.

Presently, she frowned.

"That was easy," she said. "I thought you would be difficult."

Her purple eyebrows were soft bushy triangles. They made her look like a confused kitten.

"It is the consequences of my doing that caused you inconvenience, Your Highness,” Prime reasoned. “It would be only fair for me to help you deal with the impact my actions have caused."

"I need to see the lab," the Princess announced. 

She bought it. Oh, this naivete, spicing the joy of setting up a subtle trap. The novelty of it will wear off pretty quickly, he knew, but the first time is always exciting.

“Follow me, Your Highness.”

He took her to the closest shop, currently unused. The moment the doors of the lab opened before her, she sprang to action, checking monitors, studying the equipment, constantly chatting with the defective clone, relaying her plans to her recorder. She behaved as if Prime weren't there. As if she had forgotten about him entirely. 

“Hordak!” she called. “Come here. Let's disconnect you from the hivemind."

Prime’s smile turned ferocious. Oh, what a exquisite torture she unadvertedly decided to subject his brother to! Disconnecting once must have been an agony. Breaking the connection again after being reconnected so recently would be pure hell.

(Prime noticed that he used the word “exquisite” twice when thinking about her.)

And then, just like that, the pigtail Princess disconnected his wayward defective brother from the hivemind. 

At first, Prime didn't recognise the feeling in his chest.

The little rebel from the backwater world was feeling at home in his cutting-edge lab. She hacked into the system he, the Emperor, believed to be thoroughly protected. She did it with ease. Now, she was showing the wailing clone some purple crystal, talking to him soothingly. 

Prime was _impressed_.

She will be an invaluable tool in testing his security systems. He’ll identify the breach that allowed her to break through, and fix it. And then, he’ll plug his brother back to the hivemind. To see if she can find more breaches. 

Oh, he got so much more than he originally expected. The girl is magnificent. He will use her to the fullest. With her help, he'll bend the unyielding magic to his will. He has countless conundrums for the girl to solve. And when she exhausts them... well. It will be time for him to claim her body. He will transfer his mind into her small form, to absorb her memories, calculations and discoveries. Her body will likely not survive the invasion and will be tossed aside like an empty shell. But her mind and her legacy will belong to him, and him alone. 

Prime smiled at the purple Princess, his sharp fangs glinting in anticipation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I had ideas for three chapters, titled “Prime”, “Entrapta” and “Hordak”, with respective POVs. However, something happened to my inspiration. I’m not sure if I ever get to Entrapta and Hordak’s views, so I’m posting the Prime’s POV at least.


	2. Entrapta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sometimes he behaves like he wants to be my lab partner. But he is boring. It’s surprising how the owner of such an advanced spaceship can be so boring.”

Days flew by. Progress was made. New obstacles arose.

“He is weird, your older brother, you know that?” Entrapta muttered absent-mindedly, her fingers skillfully splicing the wires behind the control panel for better connectivity. “So confusing. He talks a lot, but his actions don't match his words. If he truly wanted to help me fix you, he'd be here.”

The clone didn’t reply. He never replied. He will eventually, Entrapta told herself. He was Hordak. He just needed time. 

It was all due to that unlucky incident when he somehow got reconnected to the hivemind. Entrapta still didn’t know how it happened. She was too busy figuring out how to disconnect him again. This time it took longer. Almost an entire day. She spent extra effort to implement safeguards this time, to prevent it from happening in the future. 

She was now studying the ship’s teleportation devices, deciding how to better use them to port home. It was an excruciating task, mostly because there was so much more. This ship offered everything Entrapta could ever dream of. The coordinates of stars and galaxies and globular clusters. Catalogues of spaceship designs from all over the Universe. Blueprints for cloning techniques. The list was endless.

But she would need to get Hordak away from here, fast. The clone talked little, slept less, and overall looked perilously close to depression. To make matters worse, she recently found him reconnected back to the hivemind. The clone controlling system must have been self-educating to get around her safeguards. Entrapta needed to have the teleport working the next time she would unplug Hordak. They’ll leave immediately, without giving the system another chance. 

Engrossed in her work, Entrapta would sometimes become vaguely aware of the Prime’s presence nearby. She didn’t give it much thought. 

“Princess, where are you?” her host would ask sweetly. “If you keep hiding from me, I’ll have to dismantle the lab.”

“Nonsense,” she would snort back. “I have better things to do than play hide-and-seek.”

If Prime needed to talk to her, why wouldn’t he just come over? Hordak always knew how to find her in their lab. Admittedly, it used to be Hordak’s Sanctum before she barged in. But this used to be Prime’s workshop, even if now it looked like a jungle of pipes and cables and spare parts. What was his excuse?

“You would have to come out,” Prime continued. “At some point, you’ll need to eat.”

Entrapta didn’t bother with a reply. She was busy, and he was not making sense. She had all the sustenance she needed. Pickles, mostly. And apple juice in small funny boxes. Hordak saw to that.

She insisted on calling the clone Hordak, even though she didn’t have much luck restoring her lab partner into his old grumpy self.

“Sometimes Prime behaves like he wants to be my lab partner,” she told Hordak once.

Something flickered in the clone’s green eyes.

“But he is boring,” Entrapta continued. ”It’s surprising how the owner of such an advanced spaceship can be so boring.”

“Run,” the clone croaked suddenly.

“You talk!” Entrapta clapped her hands, excited. 

“Run,” the clone repeated, his smooth face contorting in something akin to pain. “He is looking for you. He will find you. Run.”

She did, indeed, notice that the clones who roamed the ship, seemingly identical and interchangeable, started behaving erratically. Sometimes, one of them would stop at the entrance of the lab and stand there for a long time, watching and listening intently. Looking for something. 

“I’m not leaving without you,” she told Hordak. “When I disconnect you again, I want to be ready. I’ll activate the portal at once, and we’ll go home. But I need to run some tests first…”

The clone didn’t object. He never objected. That was the main sign Entrapta didn’t prevail yet. The real Hordak wouldn’t put up with her plans without voicing his mind. 

***

Entrapta eyed the portal interface suspiciously. The access indicator glowed green, but how long would it last? Security here was incredibly tight. They may not have much time. Still, she needed to try at some point, and this moment was as good as any. 

She took a deep breath and disconnected Hordak from the hivemind for the third time.

The clone keeled over and wailed, squeezing his head with his hands. Entrapta rushed to his side. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she crooned, her hair supporting him from all directions, her arms around him in an awkward but eager attempt to comfort. 

He fell on his knees, his head almost barrelling into her chest. She had to move to the left to keep hugging him.

“It will pass,” she whispered fervently into his ear. ”I am here, I am here.”

Her mouth touched his ear entirely by accident. 

The clone froze.

“Hordak, what is happening?” Entrapta asked anxiously. “You went all immobile and blue...”

Her hot breath reached his left ear and it flinched - only to return back to her mouth, slapping her cheek on its way. 

“Ow!”

She raised her hand to her face instinctively, her gloved palm connecting with the eartip.

The clone moaned.

“Oh,” Entrapta said. “Oh wait. You are responding to my touch, right?” 

She moved her finger along the edge of his ear, this time on purpose. The clone inhaled sharply.

“Too rough?” Entrapta took off her gloves. “How about now?”

She traced the length of his ear gently but firmly. She didn’t know why she was doing it with her bare hands and not her hair. It just felt right, and she was used to trusting her inspirations.

“Sorry for touching you without permission,” she muttered wretchedly. “I only want to ease your distress. I know it feels very lonely right now, but you are not alone, not really. I’m here with you, I want you to feel it.” She stroked his right ear, massaging along the edge. “Come on, Hordak, you’re a fighter. A conqueror. Fight the darkness and come back to me. We have so much to do together.”

The clone's eyes, closed shut, opened suddenly, his emerald green stare focusing on the Princess. 

“Entrapta,” he rasped.

An excited giggle escaped her lips. She hugged him again, her gaze raising up to the unseen skies...

Her laughter died. The access indicator on the portal interface glowed red. Hordak was with her, but they couldn’t leave the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews warm my heart and sharpen my quill :)


	3. Hordak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Big Brother looked at her like she belonged to Him. It was expected, and obviously everything belonged to Him, but not her. She was her own creature. Claiming her was wrong.

Fear.

It lived with him, in him, every waking moment of the day. His existence was dominated by terror of Prime finding them, hurting them, separating them. 

Hordak didn’t care much about what the Big Brother may decide to do to him. Prime has always done what He pleased to His clones. This time was no different.

All Hordak’s fears were for her.

He retained the memories of Prime and Entrapta’s first meeting. The Big Brother looked at the Princess like she belonged to Him. It was expected, and obviously everything belonged to Him, but not her. She was her own creature. Claiming her was wrong.

Hordak now lived in constant fear of Him hurting her. Breaking her. Destroying her. The Big Brother chose to play nice for now, mostly because he wasn’t in a hurry. Time was running out, though. Prime was getting impatient. 

Entrapta was fearless, and rather oblivious to what was going on. So, Hordak had to exercise caution for both of them.

He took it upon himself to keep her fed. It was no easy task. Prime assured Entrapta she would always be welcome to join him for dinner, and she did, the first couple of times. But soon, she stopped (“Boring!”) and He didn’t make any alternative arrangements to provide her with sustenance. Hordak knew it was done on purpose. Sooner or later the Princess would get out of the messy maze of the lab looking for food. 

She didn’t. Hordak did. 

He knew he had to be stealthy. Simply stepping out the lab front door was like an open invitation to capture him. Hordak had to wait for some of the clones to walk past the doors, to be able to mix with the group. He would school his features to perfection, to make himself indistinguishable from any other clone roaming around. He would clear his mind of anything but his goal, and walk out into the unknown with no guarantee if he would ever return. 

It was hard. Insanely stressful. But he was willing to endure it, day by day, to keep her safe.

Whenever the pressure would become unbearable, he recalled the sensation of her fingers on his ears. It had become their ritual. Every evening, she would sit on the floor with his head on her lap, and work his ears. Sometimes her touches were light, almost tickling. Sometimes it would be pinching his skin lightly, as if trying to make his blood run faster. Whatever she did, he felt grounded to the spot. The world would stop. Hordak would forget everything: his pains, his fears, even Prime. Only her touch remained. 

Ending such a session was almost worse than being disconnected from the hivemind. No, no, he shouldn’t think like this, he scolded himself. Her touch was bliss. He just developed this, seemingly insatiable, longing for _more_.

Days ran by, filled with the immense stress of getting out, and the immense relief of getting back. Seeing her smile, discussing her discovering, longing for her touch.

Speaking of her discoveries, they troubled him.

Things moved both slower and faster since Hordak reclaimed his identity. Entrapta continued to work on her projects - securing her access to teleport network, strengthening the safeguards to prevent the hivemind from reclaiming Hordak again, messing up with certain spaceship software to create a distraction as a cover for their break out - but there were suddenly much more of them. Now that Entrapta had someone to talk to, it looked like she was sidetracking more often than moving ahead with their escape.

Until, one night, Entrapta hacked into the Prime’s ship.

***

That night Hordak heard her squeal loudly, with sing-song exclamations in the end, which meant the Princess was really excited.

“My program worked!” she was saying. “I didn’t expect it to work. I wrote the query because the opportunity was too good to pass by. This changes everything!”

He moved closer, wishing her to speak quieter but unable to hush her lest it would take the smile off her face.

“Hordak!” she called, tapping rapidly at the buttons on the control panel. “I can do it! I can connect to the hivemind. Connect on my own accord, I mean. And do you want to know something even better?”

He didn’t want to know. He didn’t think the hivemind part was good.

“I can connect to the clones,” Entrapta whispered, her purple eyes sparkling. “Not just the regular ones. The clones your brother uses for himself.”

“No,” Hordak gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“I was wondering how he stores his memories,” the Princess blabbed on. “Centuries, millennia of memories, one head is not enough to accommodate such an amount of information. Well, I got the answer. I can connect to his past clones, his past selves… and their knowledge.”

She laughed, a tad maniacally, and Hordak realized his mistake. All this time, he was afraid of the wrong thing.

He thought _Prime_ was a danger to _her_. 

He got it all backwards.

Yes, Prime posed a threat to her. But she posed the equivalent, if not bigger, threat to herself. And to Prime, but this was incidental.

“Entrapta,” Hordak said with a warning in his voice. “Don’t do it!”

“Why not?” She sounded genuinely surprised. “Imagine the data we would acquire! Oh, the possibilities!

Fear turned to horror, crawling into his chest to grapple his heart like a kraken he once fought on some now-dead planet. Hordak forced himself to speak.

“If you claim His memories… if you absorb His views… you will become just like Him. You will be worse!”

“Nonsense!” she snorted. “I don’t need the Empire. I don’t care about conquests and wars and domination. I just want the stars.”

“You will lose yourself!” Hordak growled, desperate. “As someone who has lost their identity, I can tell you what it’s like. It’s blinding torture!”

Entrapta’s hand patted his, while the Princess herself gave the control panel a coveting glance, the strands of her hair ready to pounce. The buttons twinkled invitingly. 

“Such knowledge,” she mused softly. “The wisdom of centuries. Rejecting it only to keep myself the way I am seems… wasteful. Why would it even be a problem? So, I disappear. Who cares?”

“I care.”

The words came unbidden, but he didn’t regret them. He didn’t even have time to be humiliated by his own boldness. It was bigger than him. Bigger than his useless, broken, miserable existence. 

“You do?”

The Princess turned away from the panel, watching him intently. There was a hint of a smile on her lips. It was more than Hordak could ask for. 

“Please,” he breathed out. “Please. As your... lab partner, I beg of you. Leave His clones alone. You have the teleportation beam set up. No more tests. Let’s go home.”

She turned back to the panel. His heart sunk. All was lost. Why would she listen to his pleas, when the might of the entire Universe twinkled under her fingertips, waiting?

“If you want it,” he said, despairing, “use me.”

She glanced back at him, nonplussed.

“You just told me it would totally destroy the person who does it!” she said.

“Better me than you.”

“Hordak!”

“Yes,” he said, finding a sudden strength where he never expected any. “I am Hordak. I claimed back my name and my core. I am throwing them at your feet. Listen to me, Entrapta of Dryl. If you want His power, use me as a vessel. For there exists no such knowledge that’s worth destroying yourself over. Your unique, fearless, curious self.”

The maniacal gleam left her lovely magenta eyes. Only warmth remained.

For some time, none of them spoke.

“Would you go with me?” she asked eventually. “Home?”

He eyed her warily. He didn’t dare to hope.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go,” he said. 

“No, I mean home home. When we get back to Etheria, would you stay with me at Dryl?”

Relief rolled through him, rendering him delirious.

“It would be my honor.”

“The hell with Prime then,” she decided. “We’ll discover the cosmos on our own. It’s even more interesting this way.” 

The strands of her hair danced on the shining buttons. One by one, the indicators flickered green. 

“And Hordak?” she said, shooting him a quick smile as he fought for breath. “I think your own self is pretty unique, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I did it. I finished this months after I thought I never would. And it turned out pretty good, even if I say so myself. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
